


The rest is details

by FullMoonFlight



Series: 2k16 writing challenge [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkwardness, F/M, First Date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 04:18:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6037789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FullMoonFlight/pseuds/FullMoonFlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Lily finally asks James out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The rest is details

“So, are you going to do it?” Dorcas had been giving Lily a _look_ for the past fifteen minutes, so the line of questioning wasn’t exactly surprising, but that didn’t stop her from hunching her shoulders and determinately avoiding eye contact with her friend by staring intensely down at her breakfast when Dorcas finally spoke up.

“I will, just… I will, okay?”

“What’s going on?” Mary Macdonald, the third and final member of their trio joined them, snagging a piece of bacon off Lily’s plate as soon as she sat down.

“Lily’s chickening out,” Dorcas replied smugly. Lily couldn’t prove it, but she knew her friends well enough to know they probably had some money riding on whether or not Lily went through with it.

“Again?” Mary rolled her eyes.

“I am NOT chickening out! I’m going to do it!” Lily exclaimed, louder than she realised if the looks she was getting from the people around them was anything to go by.

“Well, go on then. He’s right there,” Mary nodded her head, gesturing down the table where James Potter was indeed sitting, surrounded by his fellow Marauders, having a great time by the looks of it.

“Are you insane?!” Lily shrieked, flushing when she realised she sounded terribly like her older sister just then and immediately lowered her voice before continuing. “No, I’m not going to do it here in the middle of the great hall. I’ll catch him alone, later. And no that is _not_ an invitation for you two to try to lock us in a broom closet or whatever else you have in mind!”

Her two best friends merely shrugged, as if to say they couldn’t care less what Lily did, or perhaps because they had been through this at least three times already in the past month and knew better than to expect Lily to finally go through with the plan.

It was all their fault, anyway. Lily had been perfectly content ignoring the problem, but ever since they had found out, they had been pressuring her into actually doing something about it. The problem being, of course, Lily’s gigantic, unbearably and horribly timed crush on one James Potter, Marauder, fellow Head Boy and tentative friend to Lily.

After years of bickering, fighting and just general antagonizing on both their parts, Lily and James had finally buried the hatchet at the start of the year. As Head Girl and Boy they were forced to spend a lot of time together over the year and they quickly realised that by being on friendly terms they would make their lives much easier and so they had developed a tentative friendship over the past few months. They still bickered, they were probably incapable of doing anything else, but nowadays it was in a friendly spirit because they enjoyed debating with each other, rather than to annoy and anger each other.

Unfortunately for Lily, all of that meant she had become a walking, talking cliché. Working so closely with her former nemesis had made her see him in different light. James Potter wasn’t nearly as terrible as she had always thought he was. He was smart, kind, loyal, funny and a billion other things that made her feel like her stomach was full of butterflies and made her traitorous cheeks turn red every time he touched her. Just the other day she had accidentally spilt ink all over the report they had been working on for Professor McGonagall because his hand had brushed against hers during one of their Head meetings. She had it _bad_ to say the very least.

Ever since they found out, Dorcas and Mary had been urging her to do something about it, to ask James out. The two of them were convinced Lily and James were meant to be and had so far managed to bully her into agreeing to finally ask him out three times already, the conversation they had late the night before being the fourth time, and just as Mary said, she had chickened out each time. She couldn’t bring herself to admit it to her friends, but she was terrified. Partly of the inevitable rejection, yes, but mostly of what James would think of her when she told him. He had somehow managed to worm his way into her heart, not just in the obvious romantic way, but also as one of her closest friends and she would hate to lose him because she went and made things awkward by having _feelings_. But even more so, she was afraid he would think she was cruel. She knew he had liked her, he had asked her out a few times in their fifth year and every time she rejected him in increasingly horrible ways so what would he think if after all that, she went and asked _him_ out.

She looked over to where he was sitting. He appeared to be in the middle of a story, with Sirius, Remus and Peter hanging onto his every word with delightful grins on their faces as he waved his arms around, unable to contain himself as he talked. Sensing her gaze, he caught her eye, sending her a playful wink as he continued regaling his friends. Lily smiled in return, cursing her pale skin as she stubbornly tried to resist the blush creeping up her cheeks.

“I’m going to do it,” she said decidedly. She couldn’t take it much longer, she had to talk to him, if only to get it out of the way so she could finally get over him and stop imagining the what ifs. He would let her down gently, it would be awkward for a while and then things would be fine. They had to be.

“Really?” Mary asked, a smile blossoming on her face as she realised her friend meant it this time.

“Yes,” Lily nodded “Not right now, after classes. But I’m going to do it.”

“Good for you,” Dorcas said, her tone of voice suggesting she didn’t quite believe her but was happy to let her think she did.

If asked, Lily couldn’t describe a single thing that happened during her classes that day. She had spent the entire day nervously preparing herself, figuring out exactly what she was going to say and ??. Her friends had been understanding for the most part, but by their last lesson of the day Dorcas threatened to tell James herself if Lily didn’t stop bouncing her leg up and down, which was causing Dorcas’ desk to shake. After what seemed like an eternity and yet no time at all, McGonagall dismissed them and the school day was over. Lily took her time, packing her things away as she took deep breaths to stave off the oncoming panic.

 By the time she felt steady enough to walk, most of the other students had already left, including the Marauders. The three girls headed towards Gryffindor tower, Mary quizzing Lily on what she was going to say and how she was going to get James alone once they found him. They didn’t have to search for long however, as they stumbled on the group of boys standing in a circle by the one of the staircases. Their heads were bent together and they were talking in low voices, a sure sign the Marauders were up to no good. Lily stopped walking and stared, feeling her nerves double at the sight of James’ messy hair. Dorcas gave her a nudge in the side with her elbow and pushed her a step closer to the boys. Lily took a deep breath. This was it.

“H-hey James. Could I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure,” he smiled and gestured for his friends to leave, “go on guys, I’ll catch up with you later.”

Sirius looked at her suspiciously and seemed to be about to protest, but Mary, Merlin bless her, grabbed his arm and pulled him with her. “Come on boys, I bet I can kick all your asses in Exploding Snap.”

“So what’s going on?” James asked as they watched their friends walk away. “I didn’t forget to do my rounds, did I? I swear I thought I was scheduled for tonight.”

“You are, it’s not that. I was just..” She paused for a moment, gathering her Gryffindor courage before blurting out: “Iwasjustwonderingifyoudliketogooutwithmesometime.”

“Sorry?” James asked, bemused. “Was that English?”

“Sorry,” Lily felt her cheeks burning. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before looking up from the ground, meeting his eyes as she reminded herself that she was a _Gryffindor_ and she could do this. “I was wondering if you’d like to go out. With me. On a date.”

“What?” The look on his face would have been funny, if she weren’t so terrified. He looked dazed and confused, as though he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. With his eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open, Lily thought he looked like a deer caught in the headlights, unable to process what was going on.

“A date. You. Me. If you’d like,” she stumbled over her words. She had prepared a speech (actually, she’d written down at least three different ones during her classes earlier) but couldn’t seem to remember a single word from them. Or how to get her mouth working.

“That’s what I thought you said,” he still looked shocked, blinking owlishly at her. His head did a weird twitch to the side, which Lily suspected was him fighting the urge to look behind him to see if she was talking to someone behind him. “Me? Are you sure?”

Lily couldn’t help it. She giggled, which quickly turned into snorts of laughter as she tried to contain herself. She had spent all this time worrying about his reaction blab la. She could see his face fall in disappointment and a trace of hurt in his eyes, so she quickly got a hold of herself. “Of course I’m sure. You really think I’d ask that suit of armour behind you out on a date?”

“Considering our… _colourful_ past, I thought it best to double check,” he grinned at her,

“So?” If the dopey smile on his face was anything to go by, she already knew her answer, but thought it best to prompt a direct reply so there would be no miscommunication.

“Of course I want to go out with you. Merlin, how is that even a question, Lily?” he brought his hand up to his hair, about to run his fingers through it, which she now knew was a nervous habit of his, before quickly stopping himself and bringing it back down, no doubt remembering all the times she had ranted at him about this particular habit of his.

They stood there, staring at each other, neither quite knowing where to go from there. Both of them sported happy smiles, despite the awkwardness of the situation.

“So, uhm, we should probably head back to the common room,” James suggested after a moment.

“Yeah.”

They walked together back to their common room in silence, occasionally glancing at each other and smiling down at their feet. When they finally arrived, they once again stopped and stared at each other.

“Well?” Mary was sat on her bed, reading a magazine which she was quick to throw to the side as soon as Lily walked through the door.

“He said yes,” Lily said in a daze. “He said yes! Oh merlin, what am I going to do? What do I wear?”

“That’s so great! When is it?” Mary asked with a bright grin. Dorcas finally looked up from her book, her face a look of happy disbelief.

“What-,” Lily stopped abruptly, a look of horror forming on her face. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Dorcas said, shoulders shaking in laughter. “I thought you asked him out?”

“I did! I asked him out, he said yes, then I came back here and realised I forgot to actually _schedule_ the date.” Lily threw herself onto her bed, grabbing her pillow to hide her face in as her friends burst into laughter. She felt her bed dip as Mary climbed in next to her, throwing an arm around her while Dorcas sat by their feet.

“You’re being ridiculous, Lily,” Dorcas said with a roll of her eyes. Mary quickly kicked her in the side, causing her to slap her shin before continuing. “The hard part’s already over. He agreed to go out with you. The rest is just detail.”

“That’s surprisingly nice of you, Dork,” Mary said, beaming at their friend for her surprising positivity. “Don’t worry too much, Lils. You can plan it the next time you see him. He said yes!”

“Yeah,” Lily couldn’t stop the dreamy sight escaping from her lips as she removed the pillow from her face. “He did, didn’t he?”

The three girls burst into laughter, happy to spend the rest of the night squished together on Lily’s bed and coming up with increasingly ridiculous ideas for her first date with James. They’d worry about the details later.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm fullmoonflight on tumblr, come talk to me!


End file.
